


our hearts just fit

by wandering_soul_with_a_writing_goal



Series: i want to forget everything but you [3]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Implied slowburn, Joyce is the best mom, M/M, Mike is a gay disaster, Mutual Pining, Pillow Fights, Sleepovers, and also oblivious byler, but this fic only takes place over one night, elmax fluff, hot chocolate fixes everything, max is in love, nancy hugs everyone, nancy is a bi disaster, oblivious ronance, the wheeler siblings are just disasters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:36:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25213282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wandering_soul_with_a_writing_goal/pseuds/wandering_soul_with_a_writing_goal
Summary: the sequel to iwtfeby- a sleepover fic featuring plenty of elmax fluff, the wheeler siblings being absolute disasters, pillow fights, dancing along to grease, bitching about ronald reagan, first kisses and oh, yes, plenty of gay.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper & Mike Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper & Nancy Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Maxine "Max" Mayfield & Mike Wheeler, Mike Wheeler & Nancy Wheeler, Nancy Wheeler & Max Mayfield, Robin Buckley & Max Mayfield, Robin Buckley/Nancy Wheeler, Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper, Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Series: i want to forget everything but you [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1768462
Comments: 7
Kudos: 62





	1. let me stay in the stars

Max paces around her room as the contents of her wardrobe lay on her bed. She has literally no idea what to pack. Back in California, she didn’t have many friends and with the party, she just shows up. 

This? This is a big deal. Getting invited to a  _ sleepover  _ with the girl she loves, Mike Wheeler’s totally badass older sister and her… lesbian aunt? 

Max doesn’t know exactly what to call Robin. Friend is weird for someone whose house she lives in and who drives her everywhere and who rants to her about Nancy Wheeler in the middle of the night. But, sister is… sister is too soon. It reminds her so much of Billy that she had to sit down the first time Robin called her “sis” like it didn’t mean anything. 

She still has dreams about him. Not the bad ones, where she watches him die. Those went away once she left the house he used to blast his music in. Good ones, where they’re on a beach out in California and splashing each other and collecting seashells. 

Max knows those aren’t memories, just like she knows that her not-brother was… was complicated, to say the least. But, she wishes they were and that’s what matters. 

Sure, she’s been at the Buckley household for about three months now. The first one, her mother tried to track her down and she’d float from house to house every night until the Wheelers though she and Mike were dating (she choked on her mashed potatoes when Karen asked and Nancy didn’t stop laughing for about twenty minutes straight), Ms. Henderson started to ask questions and the Sinclairs offered to kick Neil’s ass for her. Again. 

But, Max always ended up at the Byers house, no matter how far away she was. 

It’s like the thing she read about sea turtles- they always return to their home shore. And El, with her warm smile that makes Max feel alive and her bright eyes that are the eighth wonder of the world and kisses that make her stomach drop while her heart soars… El is Max’s home. 

For some reason, she’s gotten lucky enough so that this  _ wonderful, radiant  _ human being feels the same way about her. 

Max is still a little confused about that- what Eleven Hopper would want with her. El is every song she’s heard in her dreams, every constellation she sees in the sky, everything in the stories she reads. Max is reckless and a coward and fiery and she doesn’t deserve a fallen piece of heaven. But, she’s so damn glad that she got it and if it’s up to her, she’d never let go. 

She blinks out of it when Robin sticks her head into Max’s room and asks, “You almost ready?” 

“I don’t know what to pack,” Max mumbles and gestures at her bed. 

“I can see that,” Robin laughs, “Your striped shirt is cute.” 

Max looks down at the bed again and back at the shirt. Before she can stop herself, she smiles, remembering El’s hand in hers and the victory she felt when El told Mike  _ I dump your ass.  _ That was a perfect day. 

“We’re leaving in ten, ok?” 

With that, her  ~~sister friend~~ “lesbian aunt” turns and leaves the room to go pack for herself. Max sighs and runs a hand through her hair, wondering what the hell she’s gonna do. 

Approximately twelve minutes later, she’s packed her striped shirt and jeans, some more Wonder Woman comics for El and toiletries. The Buckleys have been saints buying her toothpaste and things that she didn’t think to grab from her house the day Robin drove her over to get her stuff. 

She’s been practically harassing Joyce for a job so that she can pay them back, even though Robin keeps telling her not to worry about it. Her not-sister meets her in the hallway and they walk in comfortable silence to the front door. 

After throwing their suitcases in the trunk, Max climbs into the passenger seat of Robin’s navy blue pickup truck, dubbed “Dolly” by Dustin and Erica who like to sit in the bed. Steve always freaks out when he catches them though, because  _ it’s illegal  _ and  _ that’s really dangerous  _ and  _ back in my day…  _ but, everyone just laughs and replies “ok, Mom”. 

As they drive, they blast I’m Coming Out and scream along to the lyrics, headbanging and cackling in time. 

At a stoplight, Robin reaches a hand dramatically towards the windshield and croons, “I want the world to know… gotta let it show!” and Max can’t stop laughing. She hasn’t felt this happy since… since the day at the mall when she thought she would live forever. 

Her and El, together, eating ice cream and racing each other towards infinity for the rest of time. 

They pull into the Byers driveway and Max’s not-sister reaches over to squeeze her hand, “Hey, we’re going to have a great time tonight, ok?” 

“Yeah,” Max grins and she means it. 

They share another smile, Robin turns the engine off and they lug their suitcases inside. As Max is about to knock on the door, it’s flung open and El is standing there, beaming like  _ Max  _ is everything she wants, a dream come true. 

Max knows that’s impossible, but she lets herself believe it as she looks into those big, brown eyes. 

_ Just for a minute, let me stay in the stars. Then, I’ll come back to reality,  _ she tells herself. 

“Mike and Nancy aren’t here yet,” Joyce informs them after grabbing the girls’ suitcases and ushering them in. 

“ _ Mike’s  _ coming to the sleepover?” Max gasps. 

Sure, they don’t hate each other anymore, but how is she supposed to steal kisses from his ex right in front of him? And also, paint his nails, play truth or dare, read Wonder Woman…  _ girly  _ stuff? After she thinks about it, she figures that Wonder Woman would probably do him some good, Will would pass out if Mike got a manicure and she can’t wait to make him spill his secrets. 

El laughs, “Mike is coming for Will.” 

Well, that makes more sense. They should still paint his nails though and watch as El’s kind-of-brother has a heart attack. It’d be good entertainment. 

Like he heard his name, Will comes out from his room and asks, “Mike?! Is he here yet?!” 

“Not yet,” El shouts back and he sighs before going back into his room and shutting the door. Max thinks she can faintly hear him playing Open Arms by Journey through the door and she smiles. 

The three girls head to the kitchen and Robin gives Max and El  _ terrible  _ advice about passing freshman year, which is coming up in a few months. Max sees Joyce tense when El asks what Hawkins High is like and whether the teachers are nice. Something in her chest squeezes a little as she imagines walking those halls without the girl she loves beside her. 

She knows they can’t exactly be out and proud at school. Just the other day, someone literally threw a soda on Will and called him the f slur. Lucas and Dustin could barely hold Mike back and the only thing stopping Max from murdering the dude was El’s hand on her wrist. 

But, she can still have the brushing hands in the hallways, secret smiles in class, sitting too close in the cafeteria because “there’s no room”, stolen stares at school dances… 

That’ll be enough for her. 

The doorbell rings again and before Joyce can get up to open it, Will’s flying out of his room and throwing it open, smiling like his face is breaking in half. 

“Mike!” he shouts and grins, pulling the taller boy into a hug. 

Well, that’s new. Mike freezes for a moment and then puts his arms around the shorter boy and smiles into his shoulders. El and Max exchange a knowing look and Robin looks at them with a question in her eyes. Then, Nancy Wheeler walks in, carrying a basket of nail polish and Max’s not-sister gapes. 

Whenever Max tries to ask her about Nancy, she always deflects by teasing about El or mutters something like  _ she’s nice  _ while hiding a blush. Hopefully, something big happens tonight so she doesn’t have to keep worrying about Robin’s love life. 

“I love you,” El whispers in her ear and she blinks. 

She still hasn’t gotten used to the way the girl says it every few minutes, like she’s afraid Max will disappear. 

_ I’m here and I will be here until you get tired of me or we both die, and then I will follow you into the afterlife and be by your side for eternity. I will cross oceans and mountains to find you and I will tear the world apart if you ask me to.  _

At least, that’s what she wants to say. All she can do is place a soft kiss on the side of El’s forehead and hope she gets the message. 

Will finally pulls away from Mike after a solid minute and Mike is bright red again. Max practically cackles when he then grabs the black-haired boy’s hand and drags him towards his room, shutting the door behind them. 

_ Wheeler is so gone,  _ she thinks and then looks over at El, realizing that she isn’t much better. 

Nancy calls from the living room, “I brought nail polish!” as if it wasn’t obvious. 

El’s face breaks into a wide grin and she sprints towards the couch, holding her fingers out. She’s never gotten her nails painted before and she’s been looking forward to it all week. Max caught her  ~~ girlfriend true love  ~~ better half sighing dreamily about it when she should’ve been paying attention to the D&D campaign Lucas was running about zombies or some shit. 

Max wasn’t really listening either, but then again, she had better excuses. Like El. 

When Nancy smiles shyly at Robin and offers to paint her nails a blue that will “bring out her beautiful eyes”, Max thinks her not-sister will combust out of sheer proximity to Mike’s sister. 

A few minutes later, Max is swiping bright green paint all over El’s nails as the girl stares at them in wonder and smiles. After she finishes the right hand, Max places a gentle kiss on it and El blushes a little bit. 

She loves this girl so much that she thinks she might explode, in a good way. 

Robin is still bright red while Nancy hums along to an ABBA song that Will’s blasting and uses the blue that Robin just grunt-squealed in agreement to when she suggested it. 

When El’s nails are drying, she and Max sit on the couch together as close together as possible and whisper stupid things that make both of them crack up and dissolve into tears. Joyce pokes her head into the room and gives a soft smile to all four of them flaunting their colored nails. 

“Who wants dinner?” she asks and Max blinks out of her  _ El is right here and she loves me  _ haze. 

“What?!” Will shouts from his room. 

Joyce screams over the love song playing, “Dinner!” 

He opens the door and sprints into the kitchen while Nancy mutters  _ boys  _ and Mike follows after him, stumbling like he’s just woken up from a dream and blushing his ass off. El elbows Max and laughs like she always does when they watch the two dance around each other 

“What’s for dinner?” Robin asks, after they wander into the kitchen. 

“Breakfast,” Will replies through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. 

“Where’s Jonathan?” Nancy pipes up and Robin’s face falls a little bit, even though she soon replaces the disappointment with a fake smile. 

“Probably at Steve’s,” Joyce replies and Will rolls his eyes lovingly. 

As soon as they sit down at the table, El’s already devoured two of her own waffles and half of Max’s. At first, she was shocked when she found out Max didn’t like them, but now, she’s realized it’s a positive- double the waffles! 

“I love you,” she tells Max through a mouthful of food, crumbs dripping out onto her chin. 

Max smiles and says, “Love you too,” and leans over to wipe them off her cheek. 

“No PDA at the dinner table,” Mike chucks a balled up napkin at her “People are trying to eat here, Mayfield.” 

Instead of responding, she just raises an eyebrow to the way he and Will are practically sitting on each other’s chairs and he blushes again. Will doesn’t seem to notice though, happily stuffing his face with waffles drenched in ungodly amounts of syrup. 

Max wonders whether they’re actually  _ together  _ yet or if Mike’s just pulling another Mike, like always. It’s practically become its own verb by now. 

Meanwhile, Robin, Nancy and Joyce are talking about politics, which basically consists of them all trashing Reagan and ranting about what a dick he is. Well, mostly, Nancy’s in the middle of an impassioned speech with her fists clenched and eyes blazing and Robin’s staring at her with hearts in her eyes while Joyce is applauding. 

Will turns to El and whispers dramatically, “Who do you think you  _ are,  _ Ronald?!” 

The two start laughing hysterically- El snorts and chokes on her orange juice while he throws his head back and giggles. Max and Mike make eye contact, shrug and then go back to staring at both of them. 

El is so beautiful when she laughs and Max wishes that she took pictures like Jonathan, so she could capture it forever. But, she’s not… she’s not good at anything like that. 

She’s good at zooming and running away and that’s pretty much it. 

But, skateboards are useless when it comes to holding onto the best things in your life. And reaching for the horizon… well, that isn’t something she wants to brag about to the girl she loves more than life itself, the one person that fills the hole in her chest, the radiant being who makes her feel so damn  _ alive  _ that it hurts sometimes. 

“It’s something Jonathan likes to scream at the tv,” Will leans over to explain to Mike, “Me and El like to make fun of him for it.” 

Mike looks like he’s going to turn almost as red as Dustin was when he fell asleep by Cerebro while talking to Suzie. El snorts into her orange juice and he sends her a glare while Will looks at Max, confused. 

So, they’re  _ not  _ together yet? Now Max has  _ two  _ oblivious gay disaster couples dancing around each other to worry about. 

After dinner, the girls go back to the living room and Nancy puts a movie in the VHS. 

Max curls up into El’s side on the floor while Robin and Nancy sit on the couch. She doesn’t pay attention to the movie- the one with the pink ladies that Robin likes to sing along to around the house. Instead, she’s listening to the way her  ~~ girlfriend soulmate  ~~ better half breathes and bounces her foot in time along to the music. 

When the credits are rolling, Nancy hops to her feet, rifles through her suitcase and comes out with a hairbrush. 

Before Max knows what’s happening, she and El are jumping over all the furniture and belting out the lyrics to You’re the One that I Want.The brown eyed girl shimmies her hips, giggles and points at Max when singing, “but the power you’re supplying, it’s electrifying” and Max throws her head back, laughing until she can’t breathe. 

Soon, she’s dancing along, getting pulled in by Nancy and feeling on top of the world as she half-sings to songs she barely knows the words to. 

El and Robin attempt to do the twist while screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs. 

Once they’ve collapsed onto the floor with El’s head on Max’s chest and her hands in Max’s hair, Max takes a deep breath and smiles, feeling like she could do anything with the girl in her arms. (in  _ her  _ arms- she is so damn lucky, it’s not even funny). 

“I love you,” El whispers and she says it back, holding her tight. 

Nancy sits up after a few minutes and shouts, “Let’s play truth or dare!” 

“What’s that?” El’s voice is muffled by Max’s shirt. 

“You have to either tell the truth about something or do a dare,” Robin explains, “Like, truth would be to tell everyone who you have a crush on and dare would be to tell Mike he’s an idiot.” 

“I’d do that for free,” Max mutters. 

“Well, me too, but I couldn’t think of a better example.” 

So, Max begrudgingly sits up and the four girls form a circle on the floor before Nancy asks Robin, “truth or dare?” 

“Truth,” Max’s not-sister says. 

“Are there any cute boys you’re interested in?” Nancy asks. 

Robin bites her lip as she replies, “I’m not… I don’t like guys.” 

“Any cute girls?” Max asks and her not-sister glares at her. 

“Olivia Newton-John’s not bad looking,” she mutters after a minute. 

“Huh. Rizzo’s more my type,” Nancy shrugs and twists a piece of hair around her index finger. 

“What?!” Robin squeaks after a minute, “I mean… I mean…  _ what?!”  _

“I’m bisexual. You didn’t know that?” 

Robin mutters something unintelligible and then stares at her feet for a moment before asking Max, “truth or dare?” 

“Dare,” Max responds and tries to look brave for El, who’s beaming at her. 

“I dare you… to go sneak up on the boys,” she says and Max grins mischievously. 

When she stands up, El follows her and they tiptoe down the hall to Will’s room where the door is cracked open. She peeks through to see the boys sitting cross legged on the bed and Mike’s back is to her. He’s talking about something and gesturing wildly while Will stares at him dreamily. 

The girls slip through the door and Max thanks the lord that Will is way too in love to notice when she steps on one of the drawings on the floor and the paper crinkles. 

She gets to behind Mike and grabs his shoulders before screaming, “Who do you think you are, Michael?!” 

He screeches and practically jumps into Will’s arms as she and El cackle at them. 

“What the hell?!” he shouts after a minute. Max notices that he hasn’t moved from burying himself in Will’s shoulder. 

“We’re playing truth or dare,” El claps her hands and grins, “It’s very fun.” 

Will grins, “Mike, you should’ve seen your face. It was adorable.” 

“Adorable?” Mike’s voice cracks and Max watches as he realizes that he’s like two inches away from his best friend. 

“Yep. Adorable,” the other boy repeats and then smiles shyly at him while Mike blushes (again).

“Now, kiss!” Robin yells from the doorway and Max drags El out of the room while they both giggle. She hears Mike shouting something after them, but ignores it as they sprint back to the living room where Nancy’s leaning against the couch and grinning up at them. 

“Are they married yet?” she asks. 

“Unfortunately not,” Robin sighs, “But we’re working on it.” 

The three girls sit down next to her again and continue where they left off. Max asks El truth or dare and when El picks dare, she spends about two minutes thinking of something to choose before telling her to go to Jonathan’s room and leave a note saying, “steve + jonathan 4ever”. 

When her  ~~girlfriend soulmate love of her life~~ better half comes back grinning wildly, Max smiles back despite herself and lets herself go. 

The rest of the game, she can’t stop beaming even when her cheeks hurt. 

She wishes every day could be like this- her, El, her  best friend sister lesbian aunt  Robin and Nancy Wheeler sitting on the floor of the Byers house, eating popcorn that Joyce made with plenty of butter and laughing like they rule the world. 

“Truth or dare?” El asks through giggles once they’ve been playing for a few rounds. 

“Truth,” Nancy responds. 

“Who do you like?” the brown eyed girl says before reaching over to steal from Max’s popcorn bowl. In payment, Max pulls her in for a quick peck on the cheek. 

“ _ Like?  _ Ummm…” Nancy suddenly sounds nervous, “That’s a good question. I like a lot of people. But, if you mean, like-like… well, we have to consider the options and evaluate the characteristics of each potential candidate…” 

“I don’t know what that means,” El says. 

Nancy sighs and then mumbles something that sounds kind of like  _ Robin  _ if Max strains to hear it. 

“Sorry?” the girl herself asks. 

“You. I like you.”

“Oh,” Robin says and then blinks, “Wait,  _ what?!”  _

  
  


Max looks at El and El looks back at her. Without speaking, they both stand up, grab hands and walk into Will’s room, where the boys have shifted to both laying on their elbows and squished together. When El creaks the door open, they both look up and this time, Will is blushing too. 

“Robin and Nancy are…” Max trails off and gestures a little bit. 

“Oh, thank God,” Mike groans, “If I have to hear my sister saying  _ she’s so gorgeous and I just want to kiss her and I love her, but she doesn’t love me…  _ one more time, I’ll actually die.” 

Will raises an eyebrow, “You’ll die?” 

“Oh, absolutely. It’s kind of disgusting.” 

“Hypocrite,” El coughs under her breath and Max gives herself a pat on the back for teaching her both the trick and the word. Mike narrows his eyes at her and she smirks back. 

Max loves that smirk. 

Well, she loves everything about this girl, but specifically, the way her eyes shine when she gives people hell. It’s quite beautiful to see El glow in any way. Max has loved all of them that she’s seen and she’s made it her goal to memorize the rest too. 

The two girls sit cross-legged on the floor and Will leans down to whisper something to El that makes her snort. Max is torn between jealousy and adoration for a minute, before Mike throws a pillow at her. She picks it up and attempts to chuck it back, but she’s always had terrible aim, so she ends up hitting Will instead. He bounces it to El and they’re playing a mix of hot potato and whack each other senseless. 

Soon, El’s grabbed pillows from Jonathan’s room and the four teens are having a full-on pillow war. It’s Max and Will versus El and Mike- Will has coined their team “disaster gays”, which Max is fully on board with. 

The brown-eyed girl’s dancing around Max with a pillow raised and Max is giggling so hard that tears are falling and she can’t see straight, grinning so hard her cheeks hurt. Then, El lunges and they fall to the ground, cracking up and rolling around, hitting each other with pillows and tickling where they can reach. 

Suddenly, Will and Mike’s terrible trash talk has stopped, so Max looks up to see that the taller boy has cornered El’s brother against the wall and they’re both staring at each other intensely. 

“Geez,” El mutters, “Get a room.” 

Mike whips his head back around to look at her and the moment’s broken. 

“El!” he hisses. 

“You’re the one who taught me the word,” she shrugs innocently and then gives Max a devious smile that says she knew  _ exactly  _ what she was doing. 

Then, because Will is still gaping at Wheeler like it’s the first time he’s really seen him, Max grabs her  ~~soulmate girlfriend true love~~ El’s hand and drags her out of the room. Of course, Robin and Nancy are sitting pressed together on the couch, not kissing but with such love in their eyes that it makes her heart melt. 

So, she walks into the kitchen where Joyce is sipping a cup of tea. 

“What’s going on, kiddo?” Ms. Byers asks. 

“Everyone’s getting their shit together,” El replies and Max starts to choke on her own saliva. That’s the first time she’s ever heard the brown eyed girl curse and not that she’s complaining, but… it’s just  _ new.  _

“Good to know,” Joyce smiles peacefully. 

They wander out to the porch and El places her head on Max’s shoulder before whispering, “I love you,” as the two girls watch the sunset. 

“I love you more,” Max whispers back and she means it with every part of her being.

_ I will fight for you, I will kill for you, I will die for you, I will live for you (and sometimes, that’s harder). I will find you a thousand times over because you are my home in every sense of the word and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  _

That’s what she wants to say, but I love you says it better. 


	2. your smile is like a thousand victories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mike's POV!

Mike Wheeler is a liar. 

He lies to his friends when he forces fake smiles and says “I’m fine”, lies to his parents when they ask him what he’s doing with his life and most of all, he lies to himself when he says I am not in love with Will Byers. 

Because, of course he is and always has been. Deep down, he knows it’s true, but… it’s scary to love someone, especially a boy, and know that they’ll never love you back. 

How could Will, this fallen beam of sunlight whose smile feels like a million victories and whose eyes are the color of everything Mike sees in his dreams, love him, Mike Wheeler, this selfish, cowardly liar who can’t even admit that he…? 

Loving his best friend has always been easier than breathing. He didn’t even think about it until Will went missing and everything was horrible and the only thing he could think was… 

Well, now, I’ll never get to tell him, which was the first time he realized he had something to tell. 

Then, he immediately thought, “well, shit” and pushed it down enough that he didn’t think about it. But, it’s always there, like when his best friend laughs and he feels warm all over or when Will smiles and it’s the only thing he can see. It’s always there and it shouldn’t be, which makes it so much worse to try to get rid of. 

And Mike is only human, so he can’t help blushing at every brush of fingertips against his wrist or a knee pressed against his. There’s sparks bursting and firing off mayday, mayday, mayday responses all over his body. One of the side effects is that his face turns bright red. 

That hug earlier? What the hell was that?! They never hug. He thinks he’d actually die if they did. (Don’t think about the way his head fits perfectly in the crook of your neck or the way he held you like you were his entire world. Don’t think about it, don’t think about it, don’t think about it.) See? Already dying. 

Then, Will literally grabbed his hand (!!!!!) and dragged him down the hall to where he played love songs as they talked about their plans for the newest campaign. 

Mike is getting very mixed signals that he’s probably overthinking. 

And, of course, when Max snuck up on him (he’s going to murder her), he totally threw himself into Will’s arms. How could he be any more obvious?! It was… nice though, he has to admit, even if El was totally giving him that shit-eating grin of hers the whole time. 

“Mike, you should’ve seen your face. It was adorable,” Will said and Mike just about died. 

He managed to squeak out the response of, “Adorable?” before becoming totally mortified with himself and burying his face in Will’s shoulder again, then realizing that was a terrible plan. God, Mike is an idiot. 

“Yep, adorable,” the other boy repeated and he’s 100% certain he blushed his ass off, but there’s nothing he can do about it now. 

“Now, kiss!” Robin, the girl from Scoops Ahoy who Nancy won’t shut up about, shouted from the doorway and then, Max and El ran out of the room cackling while he grumbled after them. Honestly, Mike doesn’t even know what he said- something like you’re the worst, I hate you all and go to hell, but like at the same time, so it sounded like you’re the hate all hell. 

He thinks that basically got his message across though. 

After they left, Will gave him this sideways grin and said, “Mike. I can’t feel my arm.” 

“Oh, sorry,” he muttered and scrambled back to where he was sitting on the bed before finishing his idea for an epic campaign involving ogres, warlocks and evil werewolves. He’s been planning it for the past couple weeks since they finished the last one and it’ll be totally awesome. 

Before he knew it, they’d shifted so they were both leaning on their elbows with their feet at the top of the bed and pressed together because beds aren’t normally designed for teen boys to lay on with plenty of space between them. 

Not that Mike’s complaining, except for the fact that he can’t think straight. 

“... my face,” Will laughs a little bit and Mike blinks at him, since everything has gone in one ear and out the other since his best friend pressed his foot against Mike’s. 

“I like your face,” he mumbles, because he has no filter and he’s a goddamn idiot. 

Will blushes and stammers, “Uh… thanks… I mean, I like yours too…” before trailing off as Max and El storm into the room together yet again. 

“Robin and Nancy are…” Max gestures a little bit. 

“Oh, thank God,” Mike is so relieved that Nancy will stop moping, “If I have to hear my sister saying she’s so gorgeous and I just want to kiss her and I love her, but she doesn’t love me… one more time, I’ll actually die.” 

“You’ll die?” Will teases and nudges him a little bit. 

Yes, if you keep doing that, Byers. 

Then, El coughs and Mike thinks he hears her say, “Hypocrite.” 

He shoots daggers at her with his eyes and wishes that he could wipe that stupid smirk off her face. Max is just grinning at her dreamily, which makes him roll his eyes too.

El is EVIL, Mayfield, he wants to scream, She’s my best friend, but she’s maniacal. 

The two girls sit down on the floor and Will leans over to whisper something in said evil genius’s ear. When she laughs, he smiles triumphantly and Mike knows all of Will’s smiles, but this is one of his favorites. 

It’s tied with the soft one he gives when talking to children and the bright one he has when he’s biking or running or playing D&D. 

Of course, all the rest of them aren’t very far behind. 

Mike doesn’t let himself go too far down the path of I love Will Byers, so, instead, he reaches over to grab a pillow and chucks it at Max. She looks startled before picking it back up and attempting to throw it back. 

Of course, Mayfield has horrible aim, so she ends up hitting Will straight in the chest. 

On the bright side, Mike can now justify another attack by claiming he was defending his true love best friend’s honor. 

Soon enough, they’ve broken out into a full-on war- Will and Max vs Mike and El. Will just has to name himself and Max the “disaster gays”, which makes Mike’s heart stop for long enough that Max can hit him straight in the face with another pillow. 

“Mike!” El elbows him. 

“We need more ammo!” he hisses back and she runs off to Jonathan’s room to grab more pillows as Will jumps at him and Max stares after her. 

They’re both shrieking and Mike puts his hands up to block the onslaught of pillows whacking him, but he accidentally slaps his best friend in the face and shouts, “Sorry, sorry, sorry!” as Will laughs hard enough that tears are falling and he’s wheezing. 

Then, El comes back with a tower of pillows stacked in her arms so that her face is hidden and just leans a little bit towards Max. They all come tumbling down on the redhead who lets out a peal of laughter and scrambles to pick up some. Soon enough, the two girls are rolling around and laughing on the floor. 

Mike finally snatches the pillow out of Will’s grip and runs at him. He watches as his best friend backs into a wall and then stands over him with the pillow outstretched when the shorter boy swallows and… 

Holy shit. They’re really, really close. 

If he wanted to, Mike could just lean down and… 

Well, he’s not gonna do that because kissing someone without permission is gross and that’s not how their first kiss is supposed to go. 

Not that he’s planned it out or anything! (Oh, who is he kidding? He has about seven different scenarios that would be perfect, one of which involves a marriage proposal and another which consists of Will confessing his undying love for Mike). 

They’re both frozen, blinking at each other, and Mike stares at the green flecks in Will’s beautiful, beautiful eyes while he wishes they could stay like this forever and… 

“Geez,” El grumbles and shatters the moment, “Get a room.” 

Mike turns bright red and whips around, praying that Will hasn’t suddenly developed telepathy. 

“El!” he hisses, and she just shrugs, saying “you taught me the word”. 

Also, he’s totally going to murder Max even more if possible (he will find a way), because she’s smiling fondly at her girlfriend like “good job, keep doing it”. 

“Get your shit together,” she says. 

“El!” Will glares at his sister and frowns. 

She just sticks her tongue out over her shoulder as she and Max leave the room. On the one hand, Mike wants to drag them both back in because he CANNOT be alone with Will Byers, the love of his life, when he still can’t string two words together after gazing into those gorgeous eyes and… but, also, he’ll take every moment of time he can get with this person that’s more perfect than should be possible. 

When he turns around after the two girls are out of sight, Will is still staring at him with something in his eyes that he quickly blinks away. 

Was that… was it…? 

“So…” Mike stammers and fidgets with the bottom of his shirt, “What do you wanna…?”

“I love you!” the other boy blurts out and he blinks. 

“What?”

There’s no way he heard that right. He must have said something like I bluff you, which makes no sense, but it’s more logical than WILL BYERS admitting that he loves MIKE WHEELER. 

Does not compute, is all his brain says, flashing error messages. 

Will stares down at the ground and bites his lip before whispering, “I love you” again. 

“Oh,” is all Mike can reply, feeling like an idiot because there’s so many things he wants to say, but he just can’t. 

“Sorry,” his best friend mutters. 

“No, it’s ok,” Mike replies and immediately slaps himself in the face before continuing, “I mean… I mean… I mean…” 

“Mike. You don’t have to say anything. I get it if you hate me now because...” 

He cuts Will off, “I don’t hate you! I never could… you’re… we’re… crazy together, remember?” 

“Yeah,” Will grins a little bit, but there’s still something sad behind his eyes and Mike wishes he could just say the stupid words that shouldn’t be so hard to spit out. 

They stand there in silence for a while- Will stares at the ground and Mike stares at him. Then, the shorter boy sighs and walks out of the room. 

I love you, he wants to shout after Will, I love you more than anything I’ve ever known and it’s the only thing I know is true and I want to hold onto for the rest of my life because you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. 

But, Mike Wheeler is a liar, so he just sits down on his best friend’s bed, puts his head in his hands and cries. 

There’s a hand on his shoulder and a voice that sounds like home which asks “Mike?” 

He looks up, wipes the tears out of his eyes and sure enough, there’s Will Byers who opens up his arms as Mike falls into them. 

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs over and over again. 

“No,” Mike’s voice cracks as he replies, “No.” 

Then, he pulls Will back and looks into his eyes before saying, “I love you, too.” 

And Mike Wheeler might be a liar, but that’s the truest thing he’s ever said.


	3. you are extraordinary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> nancy's POV

Today started out the way every day since Starcourt Mall has started. With Nancy making the rounds pacing back and forth in the hallway upstairs and muttering to herself about Robin Buckley and those stupid blue eyes and her stupid freckles and her stupid smile. 

Mike stuck his head out of his bedroom door and shouted, “Some of us are trying to sleep here.” 

“I hate you,” she flipped him off before continuing the walk of shame up and down the hallway, imagining those blue eyes sparkling back at her. 

For breakfast, the two of them ate pancakes in silence while their mother chattered on about Holly’s first day of kindergarten and Holly babbled along. When she asked if they had any plans, they made eye contact before Nancy answered. 

“Yeah,” she said, “We’re going to the Byers house for a sleepover.” 

“But, I thought you and Jonathan broke up?” Karen’s brow furrowed. 

“No, me, Robin, El and Max are gonna spend some girl time together,” Nancy gave her best please the adults smile. 

“And, Michael, it’s so good that you’re spending more time with Will,” Nancy’s mom smiled. 

“Yeah,” he muttered through a mouthful of pancakes. 

Karen scolded, “What did I say about talking with your mouth full?” 

After that, breakfast went back to normal and when the two siblings went up the stairs to bpack, Mike stopped Nancy right before she got to her room. 

“Nancy?” he asked, “How do you… how do you… how do you feel about… ummm…?” 

He was biting his lip and staring at the ground, looking more nervous than she’d ever seen him (even when faced with demodogs or the mind flayer), so she put a gentle hand on his shoulder and gave him a supportive grin. 

“How do you feel about gay people?” he finally whispered. 

“Oh,” she let out a sigh of relief because in the back of her mind, she thought it’d be so much worse, “Well, I think everybody has the right to be themselves, you know?” 

“Yeah,” Mike smiled softly, like he was back in middle school again. 

“For example, I’m bi,” Nancy admitted. 

“Bi… lingual?” 

“Bisexual. It means I like guys and girls,” she explained while inwardly facepalming at his ignorance. 

“I think I’m gay,” he said. 

“Ok, cool.” 

Mike turned to go back to his room before she called him back, “Mike! I love you.” 

“Thanks, Nancy. I love you too,” he replied and then closed his door. 

She smiled and then sighed because she didn’t remember the last time she’d said that to her brother. Well, Nancy made a mental note to start now. Even if Mike could be a huge pain in the ass, he’s still the same kid who played knights with her until she got to fifth grade and decided she was too old for that kind of thing. 

While she packed, she blasted ABBA music because it helped her think and also reminded her of Robin, which didn’t hurt. 

One of the best days in her life was when she, said gorgeous woman, Jonathan and Steve drove out to a meadow, brought a radio and a picnic and blasted music so loud that the entire universe could hear. They all stole food off each other’s plates, told stupid jokes that didn’t make sense and took goofy pictures on Jonathan’s camera that he pretended to whine about, but secretly loved. 

Nancy felt bigger than the world, especially when Robin grabbed her hand and didn’t let go until they got back to the Byers house to drop Jonathan off. 

That was when they discovered that Max needed help. 

And if it wasn’t enough for Robin to have those infuriatingly adorable freckles or those drop dead gorgeous eyes or that mischievous smirk or the sense of humor that perfectly lined up with Nancy’s, she had to actually take Max in. 

When asked about it, she just smiled and said, “I see myself in her. She’s a good kid.” 

So, Nancy thought that maybe…? 

But, what mattered more was that Robin Buckley is such an amazing human being that she can’t stop thinking about and invited by accident to a sleepover that she and El had been planning. 

Well, logically, El had insisted they invited Max too and Nancy wasn’t just going to sit there while the two girls traded dreamy smiles and soft kisses. 

Robin seemed like the perfect candidate to laugh about it with her. 

Also, it didn’t hurt that sleepovers meant very close capacity, potential accidental cuddling and maybe even “accidentally” well placed truth or dare questions. Nancy had been planning something along these lines for weeks, ever since she and El had first talked about hanging out more. 

At first, it was for the younger girl’s benefit- if she and Max were gonna keep dancing around each other, Nancy might as well do something about it. But, they got together, so she just recycled the plans. 

Mike wandered into her room and sat on the bed for a few minutes before she noticed he was there. 

“Yes?” Nancy snapped as she decided between her two favorite pairs of jeans. 

“I think I like Will,” he blurted out and she raised an eyebrow at him. 

“I thought that was obvious?” 

He turned bright red and grumbled something under his breath that told her he was trying to be subtle about it and miserably failing. Anybody with eyes could see the two boys were meant for each other. Except for Mike and Will, of course, because men are idiots. 

Nancy sighed and said, “Look, you’re a great guy, Mike. You’re smart and you come up with really complicated D&D campaigns in like two minutes and you tell really stupid jokes that are somehow hilarious at the same time. Anybody would be lucky to date you.” 

“You think so?” he asked. 

“Will Byers wouldn’t know what hit him,” she replied and his face lit up as her words sunk in. 

“You’re the best, Nancy.”

“I know,” she chirped back. 

Mike stuck his tongue out, “I take it back, I take it back.” 

“Too late!” she sang and then went back to packing while he flopped onto her bed and started flipping through a book on her nightstand. With every clothing item she picked out, she’d gone through at least three more. Nancy didn’t normally care how she looked, but this was Robin and everything was different. Besides, step 7a of the plan involved Robin being stunned speechless by Nancy’s morning glow, so she had to make sure that was a possibility. 

“Hey, Betty Friedan is pretty badass,” her brother said after a while and she looked up to see him reading The Feminine Mystique intently. 

“Yeah,” she replied, “Feminism for the win!” 

Mike frowned, “Isn’t that… isn’t that like a bad thing?” 

“You’re literally reading the work of one of the greatest, self-proclaimed feminists of all time. Feminism isn’t about hating men. It’s about equality- about loving everyone just the same.”

“Oh,” Mike nodded, “I like that.” 

“Good. Hate to break it to you, but you’re a feminist,” Nancy teased. 

“Ok,” he responded and then buried his nose in the book again. 

Twenty minutes later, he looked down at his watch and started squawking, “We’re going to be late! We’re going to be late!” 

“Hey,” she chucked a pair of jeans at him, “Being fashionably late is a good thing. Trust me.” 

“But… but, we’ll be late,” he stammered. 

“Heard you the first time. Now, do you want to woo Byers or not?” 

Mike blinked at her and then sputtered, “It’s not that easy, Nancy!” 

“Why not?” she shrugged, “You go over there, seduce him and live happily ever after.” 

“That what you gonna do with Robin?” he fired back. 

“Ideally,” Nancy blushed and zipped up her suitcase before the siblings headed down the stairs, shouted their goodbyes at their mom in the kitchen and got in the car. 

Nancy blasted REO Speedwagon the whole way there and Mike headbanged along, doing air guitars while she screeched the words. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d gotten along enough to ride in a car without a mix of shouting matches and tense silence. 

Well, she was glad they were making up for that now. 

As they got closer to the Byers house, Mike started to bounce his leg up and down nervously, so Nancy looked over and told him, “Hey, everything’s gonna be ok. This is Will.” 

“Yeah,” her brother muttered and then took a deep breath before getting out of the car. 

When he knocked on the door, Nancy heard footsteps pounding down the hall before Will Byers opened it and practically threw himself into Mike’s arms. 

Robin grinned at Nancy from behind the two boys and every teasing remark she’d been thinking up to say to Mike later had suddenly vanished. Now, all she could think was freckles and blue eyes and smile and Robin while she clutched her bag of nail polish. 

Soon enough, she was sitting on the floor and holding Robin’s fingers, trying not to blush her ass off or say something stupid. 

“This color would go well with your beautiful eyes,” Nancy said and immediately died inside. 

Robin turned bright red though, so maybe…? Nancy didn’t let herself think about it as she painted the girl’s fingernails- just ran through the next steps of the plan in her head. 

Step 2c: watch Grease, followed by her favorite: step 2d, in which she serenaded Robin. 

While she swiped the paint across Robin’s fingernails, she hummed along with the song coming from Will’s room. 

Don’t go wasting your emotion… 

At dinner, Joyce brought up Ronald Reagan and even though Mike kicked Nancy under the table, she couldn’t stop herself from launching into a tirade about (for lack of better, more eloquent words) what a total dickwad that guy is. She was gesturing angrily and stabbing into her waffles while ranting about it when she noticed Robin staring at her with awe in those blue eyes and she forgot what she was saying. 

“Yeah, so he’s the worst,” she finished after a few seconds and thought yep, totally saved it. 

Once she’d helped with the dishes, even though Joyce tried to chase her out of the kitchen, she wandered back into the living room and put Grease in the VHS. As the four girls watched the movie, she found herself drifting closer and closer to Robin until their legs were pressed together. 

As the credits rolled, she set phase 2d in motion by grabbing her hairbrush out of her suitcase and jumping up and down while scream-singing the words to You’re the One that I Want. 

Soon, El joined her and they were hopping all over the furniture, singing at the top of their lungs. 

Max started laughing until she was holding her sides and wheezing. 

Then, Robin joined in and Nancy pulled the redhead over to start dancing and they were all giggling more than singing, but it didn’t matter because they were together and it was exhilarating. Eventually, after a rousing rendition of Summer Nights and a version of We Go Together that had Mike storming into the room and telling them to shut the hell up, the girls collapsed onto the floor, breathing hard and beaming like there’s no tomorrow. 

Robin’s hand was thrown across Nancy’s stomach, so she completely forgot everything, including her name, just laid there and turned bright red. 

“Let’s play truth or dare!” Nancy shouted after finally remembering step 3a. 

Soon enough, after Robin explained the rules to El, the four girls were seated in a circle and Nancy was ready to ask her truth or dare questions to Robin. She figured are you in love with me was a little too specific to start with, so she worked her way up to that. 

“Are there any cute boys you’re interested in?” she asked and prayed the answer was no. 

Robin bit her lip and whispered, “I’m not… I don’t like boys.” 

Nancy had to restrain herself from screeching with joy. 

“Any cute girls?” Max chimed in and Nancy decided that the redhead was her favorite of Mike’s friends. Except for El, of course (bisexuals have to stick together, after all). 

“Olivia Newton-John’s not bad looking,” Robin muttered. 

“Huh,” Nancy shrugged, “Rizzo’s more my type.” 

She cheered to herself because subtly coming out was step 6e of the plan and here she was, getting it done early and pretty well, in fact. 

“I’m bisexual. You didn’t know that?” Nancy said after Robin exclaimed what?! 

The other girl muttered something under her breath that Nancy didn’t understand before turning to Max and asking, “Truth or dare?” 

“Dare!” Max grinned and El’s eyes lit up. 

After the two other girls (and Robin, who went to check on them) came back from Will’s room giggling, Nancy started working on how she’d be charming and slip an engagement ring into Robin’s breakfast in the morning. 

Well, maybe it was a little too soon, but it was either that or talk about her feelings, so… 

“Who do you like?” El asked suddenly, after she’d absentmindedly answered “truth” while planning her wedding and ate popcorn. 

“Like? Ummm…” Nancy’s voice cracked as she tried to sound diplomatic, since she’d never been a good liar, “That’s a good question. I like a lot of people. But, if you mean, like-like… well, we have to consider the options and evaluate the characteristics of each potential candidate…” 

The brown eyed girl interrupted her by saying, “I don’t know what that means.” 

Nancy turned even redder, if possible and took a deep breath before saying Robin as quietly as she could and praying the girl with constellations of freckles didn’t hear her. 

“Sorry?” the girl in question asked and Nancy cursed herself for forgetting the super hearing. 

Robin literally heard Steve drop a crumb of apple pie from across the house when she’d just vacuumed the living room and threatened to murder him even when he scrambled to pick it up himself. 

“You. I like you,” Nancy murmured and then closed her eyes, waiting for the sting of rejection. 

“Oh,” Robin said and then, “Wait… what?” 

Max and El looked at each other, grinned mischievously in tandem, then hopped up and walked out of the room while Nancy stared at her hands and felt Robin’s eyes on hers. 

“So… ummmm… why?!” she asked. 

Nancy has written novels and case studies about “why” (just ask Mike), but she didn’t exactly have the time to start ranting for hours about the way freckles dusted the other girl’s cheeks or the small, affectionate smile she gets when Max or Dustin or one of the other kids starts talking or the way she fidgets with her bracelets when nervous or, or… 

“You’re you,” was the best thing she could think to say and that pretty much summed it all up. 

“Thanks,” Robin replied and smiled a little bit, but she didn’t say anything else, so Nancy was left disappointed. 

A few minutes later, they’d moved to the couch and were debating who the best teacher was at Hawkins Middle (Nancy voted Mr. Clarke and defended him with a passionate speech about how great he is with the party even after they’ve graduated while Robin claimed that Ms. Miller was obviously superior for her badassery) when Nancy started to notice that Robin had been shifting closer and closer to her until they were practically intertwined. 

She lost track of what she was saying and started rambling about something (she didn’t know what was coming out of her mouth) as the freckled girl stared at her intently. Then, she just stopped talking all together and stared back. 

El and Max walked out of Will’s room and El shot her a thumbs up over Robin’s back before they headed into the kitchen. 

That night, Nancy was trying to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, she heard Thanks and that was it. She’d been so set on everything about Robin- had their first date up until the names of their kids planned out, so the dismissal was just… it crushed her a little bit. 

She respected Robin’s feelings of course, but Nancy Wheeler had always been afraid of rejection and getting it made her feel like her heart was being smashed with a sledgehammer. 

And here she is now, thinking about it until she’s got the entire thing memorized. 

So, instead of letting herself dream about that terrible moment over again, she sits up and stares at the other girls sleeping. El is wrapped around Max and the redhead is clutching her right back. Nancy’s heart squeezes a little when she sees the two of them together. She’s glad that they’re happy. 

In the kitchen, she hears Joyce wandering around, so she pushes herself to her feet and goes over to help. 

“What are you doing up?” Ms. Byers asks with concern in her eyes. 

“Couldn’t sleep,” Nancy shrugs, “Do you need help?” 

“If you wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on the hot chocolate while I run to the restroom, that’d be great,” the woman replies and then runs off towards her room once Nancy nods. 

She wonders why there’s a need for hot cocoa in the middle of the night, but watches it intently anyway. Even though she’s never been the best at cooking, it can’t be that hard, right? She’s seen Steve make this plenty of times- back when they were dating, he drank it after every single basketball game and claimed it was his “post-game refresher”. 

Then, Will and Max stumble into the kitchen groggily, wiping sleep out of their eyes and still looking haunted. Nancy doesn’t say anything, just hands them both mugs filled to the brim. 

Max grips hers and sips it while staring at the ground and Will keeps looking over his shoulder like something’s following them. After a moment, the two of them start whispering to each other about something and Will blushes while Max lets out a gleeful whoop. 

“Good thing El and I left when we did, right?” she teases and Nancy thinks oh. 

So, her little brother did woo Will Byers? She’s proud of him for being such a brave kid. 

“You and my brother?” Nancy asks and sits down in the chair between the two kids. 

“Yeah,” Will whispers and grins enough that Nancy thinks his face might break in half. 

A few minutes later, Mike and El stagger into the room. El immediately comes over for hot chocolate, but Mike is still blinking, confused. 

“Where did you go?” he asks Will and then sits down on the floor at the boy’s feet. 

Will doesn’t respond, just puts a hand in Mike’s hair and smiles softly down at him. Nancy looks away, because she doesn’t want to embarrass her brother by hi-fiving him in front of his boyfriend or squealing about how proud she is. 

El plops down into Max’s lap and murmurs, “Bad dream?” 

Max nods a little bit and her eyes well up with tears before she buries her face in the brown-eyed girl’s shoulder and starts to shake. Eleven holds her and whispers sweet nothings into her hair. 

Nancy grabs her own mug of hot chocolate and returns to the couch, where Robin is swiping the sleep out of her eyes and sitting up. 

“Oh, it’s you,” she says and smiles sleepily. 

“Yep. Nancy Wheeler in the flesh.” 

Robin mutters groggily, “You’re so pretty when you smile like that,” before she turns back over and falls asleep. While she snores, Nancy gapes at her and thinks she heard it wrong. 

Max and El come back to the living room and curl up on the floor together again, like nothing happened. Nancy feels a little twinge of guilt, because for Joyce to be so nonchalant about making hot chocolate in the middle of the night, it must be a recurring thing for at least one of the kids to have nightmares. 

She gets up and wraps Max in a big hug. The redhead tenses up for a second before returning it. Then, she gives El one too for good measure and both girls give her exhausted smiles before falling asleep again. 

When Mike and Will wander through the living room and back to Will’s room, Nancy figures she might as well keep up the trend and hug them too. The last time she remembers vividly hugging her brother is when all the shit with the demogorgon was happening, but when she throws her arms around him and whispers congratulations, you wooed him in his ear, he hugs her back and she feels him smile into her shoulder. 

Also, when the hell did her little brother get so tall? 

She goes to hug Will, but he gets there first and squeezes her before telling her softly, “Thanks for the hot chocolate.” 

Nancy decides that she’s throwing their wedding tomorrow morning and there’s nothing either of them can do about it. She watches the two boys walk back to bed and smiles after them, thinking they’re so good for each other. I wish I had a soulmate like that. 

But, in the middle of the night, when she finally convinces herself to go back to sleep, she hears a whisper in her ear before she drifts off, “Hey, I like you too.” 

“Good,” she smiles and then rolls over into her dreams. 

When she wakes up with Robin’s arm thrown around her and stares at the smile on the other girl’s face, she thinks yesterday started out like a normal day, but it ended extraordinary.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading, friends!!! hope you enjoyed... feel free to come visit us on tumblr at @strangerthingsiscool and @eraseyourbookofstories to scream about byler and elmax or just hang out!! love you beautiful people <3 as always, please leave comments and kudos.


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